By George Moffatt • Education Chair, Jersey Shore Group
What’s in a name? Consider “Anthropocene,” with its somewhat sexist “anthro” for “man” and the gender-free “pocene” for “new.” “Anthropocene” was first coined by biologist Eugene F. Stoermer in the 1980s to emphasize our destructive effects on the environment. It was later popularized in 2019 by Paul J. Crutzen, a meteorologist and atmospheric chemist, who shared the same concerns.
Today, we use the relatively benign “climate change,” or the slightly more ominous “global warming.” Considering that humanity has populated Earth for just .01% of Earth’s existence, our short but highly destructive era deserves a more serious name.
The question comes on the heels of 12 straight months of unprecedented temperatures, with 2023 being the hottest year scientists have ever seen. But that record is being challenged. The planet’s average temperature on July 22 was 17.15°C (62.87°F)—the hottest day in the history books.
As another example, ground temperatures in East Antarctica were approximately 28°C (50°F) above normal this year, mirroring major heat waves experienced in the region over the last two years.
Because the emissions of oil, coal, and gas products are the primary cause of Earth’s increasing pollution (with a tip of the hat to us), most fossil fuel companies prefer the vaguer “climate change” to “global warming.”
As Earth keeps getting warmer, we’ll see more deaths from scorching heat waves, lethal hurricanes, and devastating forest fires that pollute the atmosphere and even local water supplies. Some scientists fear these mega-storms will become routine weather events and even create their own weather.
There’s more: nations threatened by rising ocean levels, record rains and winds, destroyed crops, and increasing numbers of the homeless and hungry. We also face prolonged droughts, parched farmlands, lower crop yields, and starving livestock. And, of course, melting glaciers.
And if we include our ever-increasing abuse of Earth’s plant and animal kingdoms—including extinctions—good grief, the list could go on forever!
All these upheavals are from “global warming”—or one could argue, “global heating”—of Earth’s atmosphere. According to NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, Earth’s average temperature has increased by about 1.1°C (1.9°F) since the 1880s. This amounts to an average increase of about 0.2°C (0.36°F) per decade, with approximately two-thirds of that increase occurring since 1975.
Scientists estimate that Earth’s “tipping” point, beyond which climate change could become irreversible, is at or near 1.5°C (2.7°F), potentially within the next few decades.
Meanwhile, the Earth is getting steadily warmer due to air pollution. Traditionally, about 71% of the Sun’s incoming longwave radiation (heat) has been absorbed by the Earth, while the remaining approximately 29% has been reflected back into space as shortwave radiation. Today, Earth’s polluted atmosphere reflects back to Earth some of the heat that previously escaped. The result? Havoc!
Consider just one effect of heat. When oceans become increasingly warmer from the atmosphere’s re-reflected heat, it “excites” or energizes the water molecules to move about more rapidly and spread further apart. This “excitation” has increased ocean volumes above pre-industrial levels, causing coastal flooding and other havoc on Earth.
The Northeast faces higher humidity and rising sea levels; the Midwest, droughts and floods; and the West, droughts and fires. And the Southeast? Everything. In Antarctica, the world’s largest currently known iceberg, A-68A, measuring approximately five times the size of New York City and more than 1,000 feet (305 meters) thick, is adrift toward the Southern Ocean. This cycle of heat and “excited” energy will continue to destabilize Earth’s air, land, and sea to the point where coastal flooding will be the least of our problems.
But to put the best face on it, someday we may be able to snorkel in Alaska and ice skate in Florida. Then we might reconsider our species’ well-earned designation, “Anthropocene Age.” Better yet, “Darth Vader’s Delight” also has an interesting ring to it.